#does this need a fandom liveblog tag??? uh

[diabeticgirl4]

thinking about how tails seem to be more common in taz fanart than critical role fanart and how I think that should change

[nyadversary]

30 questions meme thingie... tagged by @autumnalserenade sort of ehehehe

(1.) name / nickname:

kester / kes

(2.) gender:

oh haha no thank you :)

sometimes i think about how im both a transgender bisexual and a bigender transsexual and how thats so epic of me

(3.) star sign:

aries but i think astrology is stoopid i don’t like it. watch as that turns out to be an aries stereotype or something though

(4.) height:

5′9

(5.) time:

6:37 am EST

(6.) birthday:

04/17

(7.) favorite bands/groups:

oh fuck i’m definitely going to forget something important but

mother mother, metric, the decemberists, alt-j, echo & the bunnymen, x, pixies, hole, nirvana, clipping., my chemical romance, blondie, mindless self indulgence, studio killers

(8.) favorite solo artist:

again i’m definitely gonna forget someone important here

emilie autumn, amanda palmer, fiona apple, patti smith, marina & the diamonds, yungblud, poppy, slayyyter, hozier, mika

(9.) song stuck in my head:

i’m so sorry to have to say this but. dr3 despair arc ending theme

(10.) last movie:

genuinely no idea. i try not to watch movies if i can help it

(11.) last show:

it was either hannibal or better call saul, i don’t remember which of those i watched most recently

(12.) when did i create this blog:

sometime in late 2019, i think? don’t remember exactly. i know i announced i remade in early 2020, but i’d been active on this blog for maybe about six months beforehand

(13.) what do i post:

all kinds of stupid and gay shit

(14.) last thing googled:

“in a world where clowns are real” (i was trying to find a particular tumblr post)

(15.) other blogs:

@catboyebooks (liveblogging; we’re playing dr1 right now) @sexytesting (portal sideblog)

also. i did hoard a url the other day to use as like, a danganronpa sideblog maybe? so i don’t have to be unhinged on main maybe? so i can turn search engine indexing off and hide from the fandom at large maybe? it will probably be like some percentage shitposting some percentage sloppily written meta posts i don’t really know. might drop the url if i do anything with it

(16.) do i get asks:

not often, but from time to time! i think most of my followers are mutuals so when we talk it’s mostly through DMs or something rather than asks

(17.) why did i choose this url:

no deep reasons, it’s just nya + adversary although my lovely mutual litzo junkheaded did point out it could be read as “NY adversary” which also fits, i like that too

(18.) following:

92. i’ve never been one to follow a lot of blogs, as long as my dash isn’t super slow i prefer to keep my following count low — i think most of the blogs i follow are mutuals actually

(19.) followers:

116. again i think the majority of these i’m in mutuals with

(20.) average hours of sleep:

i have bipolar disorder so no

(21.) lucky number:

1, 4, 9, 11, 17, 55, 69 (nice), 93, 95, 101, 417, 420 (nice), 428, 666 (nice), 4673

(22.) instruments:

i’m mainly a singer but i used to play fiddle (would like to pick it up again sometime), i know some very rudimentary piano/keyboard (i can do basic chords), i’m trying to learn ukulele and i’d also like to try learning guitar

also my school did force us to play the recorder but we got sort of hardcore with it, broke out the alto/tenor/bass recorders and all that. i used to play alto and tenor mainly but i’ve played like every type of recorder probably lmao

(23.) what am i wearing:

shrieking shack t-shirt with a really deep fried image of harry holding dead dobby on it

black and white checkered pants

boxered shorts

(24.) dream job:

i don’t dream about having jobs simply <3

but no ideally i wind up being some sort of author i guess?

(25.) dream trip:

anywhere. ahaha. let me out <3

(26.) favorite food:

some favorites no order: soft pretzels, like all pasta but my fave is tortellini, virtually all seafood honestly but especially crab, mussels, salmon, and anchovies, udon, ramen but not instant ramen i’ve had enough of that for one lifetime probably but will continue to eat it bc money, cheesecake, pizza but specifically like really good italian style pizza (new york style is also pretty good), garlic bread, really anything with garlic, salty foods in general

(27.) nationality:

american 😔

in terms of more specific cultural background, just for funsies: mom’s side is irish catholic mainly, her dad’s family is from county tipperary, i’m 3rd gen. she grew up on staten island and most of her family lives (or did live) in the tristate area. dad’s side is scots-irish with left welsh and has been here a while, since i think the mid or late 1600s? my paternal grandparents ended up settling and raising their family in socal (san diego) but both their families are from the southern appalachian region (grandfather on that side grew up in rural northern alabama, F to pay respects, and i don’t remember specifically about my grandmother)

(28.) favorite song:

i cannot pick. uh. the most played song in my itunes library is infinitesimal by mother mother, so, whatever that says about me

(29.) last book read:

does... does the komaeda manga count

(30.) three fictional universes you’d like to live in:

Three??? most of the fictional universes i like / am invested in are horrible nightmare realms. the only one i can think of that seems like an overall good time is pokemon and i don’t think i need to explain why that would whip ass

i tag: the girl reading this <3 or, like, whoever, you can do this if you want and say i tagged you, no obligation

[dauntless-dragayn]

liveblogging She ra s3 reactions part 2

time for pain babay!

[ part one ┊ part two ]

episode 4

Oh Boy i can already feel the tonal shift

“The Moment of Truth” WHAT a title

Hordak youre assuming your general will give a fuck

CATRAS BACK

Entrapta: “Ooh you have a wip now?” THE ENTIRE FANDOM WHEN CLIPS WERE DROPPED

this isnt related to anything but Angela’s wings are so pretty 🤩

Oh shit Glimmer just called her out big time

The mural in the background of this scene is pretty

Adora needs a chance to fuck Hordak up and not just rant at him That was satisfying tho Her angry voice / growl, yunno?

no dont go to SHADOWBITCH for help

Why is she lounging in her ‘prison’ wtf

“Let me out.” Ive never heard of a WORSE idea

Uh oh Shadowbitch knows exactly how to appeal to Glimmer

NO

Tag yourself im Bow shaking his head in the background

Oh finally Entrapta finds out the truth, this has bothered me for a while

“Catra was my friend too, but she makes bad decisions!” okay honestly this is a little too relatable - having to watch your friends fuck up their own life because they wont listen to you or reason

YEAHH PRINCESS SQUAD

Mermista telling Shadowbitch to shut the fuck up is iconic

Angela flying through the hallways :0

Fuck im worried about this I dont trust Shadowbitch

Wait “her”? Froggo person is a her? Aiight

I see the Princesses are now occupied and wont be in the way during thematically relevant scenes

CATRA 

BOW!! NO DONT LEAVE HIM BEHIND

i dont like.. Glimmer and Shadowbitch working together but I must admit theyre a force to be reckoned with

I do feel bad for Catra tho The last thing she needs is more lies from Shadowbitch

This connection is hurting Glimmer!! >:U

CATRA SHOVING SCORPIA ASIDE JFC

Catra unhinging, thats what we’re watching

The significance of Catra using a taser rn is that thats what she uses to tase Adora when she first defects

So i guess that Catastrophic Event just happened huh

episode 5

wh.. what

HUH?

bitch you did not dream that shit things are NOT perfect

But at the same time its.. so nice to see Catra and Adora getting along

Their flirting .. 💕

“Do you have a concussion or something?” or something..

 Lonnie’s voice is so cute ive forgotten omg

“I cant believe you like me, thats so embarrassing for you!” AHH SKDNFJ CUTE

This is like. Fanfic material

Too good to be true tho and also too terrible bc Adora is still trapped in the Horde

Does Regelio just never talk I love them

Shadowbitch treating Catra well? Them not hating each other??? Fake news 

“Everything is perfect.” Theres that phrase again

IS THIS FORCE CAPTAIN ORIENTATION

“I do not. Like you.” AT LEAST SCORPIA IS HONEST

“And what kind of name is Adora anyway?” KEHFJFJ IM PRETTY SURE THATS THE FIRST IN-SHOW ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF IT

Who tf is this lizard person with hair in the background

Adora is remembering shit!

this would be so scary i feel rlly bad for Adora

Dissociation be like-

“Everything’s perfect.” STOP SAYING THAT

“Everything will be perfect as long as we stay together.” :(((

This is INSANE

“Its like time and space arent working right” you dont say..

Why is Scorpia the only other person to act like they remember? Besides Catra in that one moment ,,?

“Just go with it okay?” Yeah like thats what youve been doing..

Gonna reiterate: this is insane!

Hahaha Adora and Catra are alone in a closet kiss- Sorry this is all just So Much i needed to break the tension

ADORA JUST TASERED CATRA I- I mean Payback i suppose

She took her with her to the woods aw

“As much as I wish things could be the way they used to be, we can’t go back!” hey im Feeling things

“Dont you get it? Im NEVER going with you!”

FUCK 

softly but with lots of emotion: fuck

Why does this old witch lady function in the au

“This happened before with Mara!” o- oh.

Im so confused

This is intense as all fuck “Bow and Glimmer! I need to find them!” love will save the world

CATRA IS ALIVE?! Catra is.. oh god. Oh what the fuck

episode 6

Oh Glimmer and her mom getting along.. havent seen that in a while

OH HE GLIMMER’S DAD IS ALIVE IN THIS WORLD?? OHHHHH

Bow is.. scholarly

Well at least theyre still friends

“Woah you look different than your mural..” lol

Where do I recognize Micah’s voice from??

EKDHFJ THEY STILL DONT HAVE A PRISON IN THIS AU

Glimmer’s outfit is a little different and I dont like it

Adora talking up her friends to prove she knows them is everything

BOW GRABS HIS SHIRT WHEN HE SAYS “THIS ISNT RIGHT”

okay Angela looks fierce as fuck here

How.. lucky that they just warped to Entrapta’s side

Trapped between realities.. uh oh

Whos gonna die in the portal

“That portal is centered on you!” FUCK?

MARA IN THE FLESH KINDA

ADORA CANT SACriFICE HERSELF BITCH

her friends monologuing about her- BEFORE THEY DISAPPEAR I- //WIPES TEAR

i was LITERALLY about to say ‘where’s Catra. this is the perfect time for her to show up.’ Lol. I was right!

HEY ADORA demon version 😬

Catra this is all YOUR fault fuckin hoe

All their past battle spots..

THIS IS INSANE

“I didnt break the world. But I am gonna fix it. You made your choice. Now live with it!” i have. no words

watching Catra disappear still hurt me .

.. ANGELA! Wait Wait Angela No

She cant go

Glimmer would be an orphan

“And now I chose to be brave. Take care of each other.” Im not crying you are Im not crying Adora is I am

That glare at Catra, holy shit

Glimmer didnt even get to say goodbye to her mother. Their last talk was a fight.

Bow pickin up Glimmer!

im gonna cry AGAIN

//whispering/ does that mean Glimmer is queen?

Oh fuck Big Baddie found Etheria

FUCK!

FUCK ME UP.

I was not prepared for this at all

anyway UH. if any of yall wanna yell with me feel free to respond or send an ask or a message or whatever. lets suffer together

[thelonghairedone]

voltron livebloging season 6 edition (ep 1+2)

I have temporarily blacklisted various voltron related tags to avoid spoilers, lets hope it is enough. Like most of my dash is currently full of said blacklisted posts that i will avoid until i finish this in a few days.

So we start with meeting Lotor’s nanny....er governess. I like her design and Lotor’s expressions in regards to her, they are pretty funny. Hunk asks the question that hadn’t been brought up but really should have “what the hell does ‘vrept sa’ actually mean? And gets to have galra cultural lessons. Worldbuilding yay!

As I thought it looks like galra society already had a military bent long before becoming an evil empire. I mean that makes sense given Zarkon thought that a helmet was an appropriate gift to give a baby. Also Sendak’s breakaway group’s name is hilariously edgy and ridiculous. And a jab at Lotor of course (ie mentioning blood purity)

Uh Lotor, bit worried about you putting the safety of you subjects lower than working on the quintessance project. Think you may have picked up bad habits from your mom. And speaking of her....

Looks like the Haggar-Shiro mind connection works both ways. Haggar is going to Oriande to mess shit up, I am so excited. Looks like Sendak “I know your weakness” line was intended for voltron in general and not Shiro. Damn misleading trailers. Hunk gets to shine and whip everybody into shape, I am proud. This is why back during the earlier seasons when Shiro disapeared and there was the lion switch, i thought Hunk would have been the next best person to lead.

Shiro keeps on getting hit with the visions, poor guy :(

Hunk does not want to duel to death, which is understandable, though the information regarding galra culture is important to know when you are trying to involve yourself in dimplomacy with them

Haggar comes out of the mystical land reverting back to her Altean appearance, interesting and onimous. I am eagerly awaiting to see what shit Haggar fucks up

Part of the next episode involves this Lotor-Allura-Lance love triange thing which I won’t discuss much because I don’t really have any interest in either Lotura or Allurance. Lotor and Allura’s height difference is hilarious. I liked Pidge and Hunk’s teasing especially how it was Hunk that was playing the part of Allura and Pidge Lotor. And Pidge dipping Hunk. The mice were cute. Thats pretty much all I have to say about that plot

Krolia’s and Keith’s interaction takes where it left off. Snorted a bit at Keith’s “how do you know i am your son for sure?” part. Keith, she knows because you look like a tiny male version of her, that how. Krolia cuts off any further questions to focus on the mission which Keith agrees to because the two of them are very simmilar

Love the scenery of the weird ass gravitation sucking time-warping place. Kudos to the animators, illustrations and desginers of this. It looks wonderful. They lose their ship. Also did Keith just say “fuck!” when they lost the ship or did i misshear that?

Convient  memory showing white light shows us Keith’s parents backstory and also a worrying vision of Shiro with purple eyes (full on possesion is coming up I know it). Keith’s dad has an amusing southern accent. We still don’t know his name so fandom will have to continue call him Texas Kogane I guess. Like the fandom guessed, the whole blue lion thing had to due with how Krolia ended up on earth. And managed to save earth from galra invasion by keeping the discovery hidden. I feel a bit robbed that there isn’t a height diffence between Krolia and Dad Kogane. Come on. Also Yoruk is a name from one of the older versions of voltron isn’t it? Sounds familar

Baby Keith is cute. Krolia pulls another fake surrender. Love how badass she is. And the encounter convinces her that she needs to leave to keep the empire away from scouting out earth again.

So Keith’s dad is dead. And Krolia gets to find that out just now by seeing Keith’s memory at his dads gravesite. OUCH. Little-Keith is so cute and sad :( :(

So Voltron gets to introduce their version of space whales which somewhat remind me of the lionturtles from ATLA. If these whales also end up saving the day later on in a duex ex machina I am going to laugh so hard. Only those who keep up with both Star Wars Rebels and Voltron will get what I am refering to here, sorry. 

They get onto one of the spacewhale and then we get so see a space dog/wolf which is pretty much what i kept focusing on for the remainder of the episode. Its so cute! I love it! I wonder what Keith named it? Its such a good doggo :D :D

Wait two years? Is that with the whole “how are we sure you are the real Keith?” because Keith has aged 2 years while i am betting it wasn’t as long as that for the rest of the guys due to time fuckery in the weird zone he and his mom are in? Though once you are out of puberty i don’t think there is a dramatic difference in aging in two years. So hm.....

And it looks like they went back in time to Altea. Interesting.

Please Voltron creators don’t make Keith lose his mom or his dog. The preview clip we saw of Keith days ago, had him not looking very happy looking and it is making me worried. 

[thecorteztwins]

“X-MEN MUTANT EMPIRE, BOOK THREE:(SALVATION)” PROLOGUE + CHAPTER ONE

@malakhvent @hexiva @muffiewrites @magnetician @superiorvengeance @actually-i-prefer-magneto @taintedhero @magnet-dad Hey there folks! For those new to being tagged in my Mutant Empire reading liveblogs, the “X-Men: Mutant Empire” books are a trilogy written by Christopher Golden in the 1990s. They are novels, not comic books, and the X-novels occupy a very shakey/debated place in canon. That said, they're excellent characterization sources (in my opinion), especially for characters that didn't get much in canon, such as Carmella Unuscione or the Kleinstock brothers. The reason I'm tagging you all, however, is because of the Magneto characterization. He is the main villain of this series, having used a reprogrammed Sentinels to take over Manhattan, along with the help of his Acolytes. He has rechristened Manhattan as “Haven” and invites all mutants to live there, while allowing humans to remain if they agree to live by his new rules under which they are second-class citizens. The X-Men are, of course, trying to intervene, both to stop Magneto himself but also to prevent the US military from deploying their own solutions. Magneto's characterized in these novels more similarly to how he's written today than how he was written in most of the 1990s. For a lot of the 90s, Magneto was, to put it simply, terrible. Like the worst he's been since the Silver Age. As in, literally killed THOUSANDS of innocent civilians. He's not movie fandom Magneto, who only ever hurts very bad people who definitely deserved it, and who usually has no other choice. The Magneto of the 90s is dark as fuck, much like everything else in comics was at the time. However, the Magneto of these books is far more complex, noble, and (by comparison) moderate...while also still not straying from the flaws that make him a villain. It's a little-known, under-rated series, and probably only of interest to Acolytes-loving nerds like me, but I think it's valuable for fans of Magneto who seek to balance his good and bad traits into the most accurate picture possible, so I think it will be of interest to you all even if most of you are writing a movie-based Magneto. So, that's why I tagged you all, I thought you'd find it interesting and enjoyable! This is the THIRD book, so if I haven't tagged you before and you want to catch up, the tag on this blog for it is “mutant empire”! Also, everything in here is opinion, you don’t need to agree with the characterization of Magneto in these books or my analysis thereof, it’s just my own thoughts as I was reading. With that preface out of the way, let's began!

PROLOGUE We begin with Manhattan, which is now called Haven. As a mun who writes the Marvel character called Haven, this keeps making me double-take when people say things like “let's go to Haven” or “you're of no use to Haven”. As a note, I don't think Magneto ever knew about the person Haven (though she is shown to know about him) since he was dead during her period of conflict with X-Factor. Anyway, as for THIS Haven, the subway is down and there's very little traffic, but lots of restaurants and small business are open because they have a fuck ton of new patrons coming in. Mutants are pouring in from across the country, across the world. On the good side, a lot of them doubtlessly need a sanctuary like this. On the bad side, Magneto sees their gathering here as a way to enlarge his Mutant Empire. This is typical of Magneto, if often forgotten by fandom: He wants to save mutantkind as a whole, but the individuals are still means to that end. He did the same thing on Genosha---using the population to form an army---and who can forget his “pawns go first” line in X3? Oh, wait, a lot of people, no one likes X3. 

  But anyway, this is on the first page and I already like the balance going between the aspects of Magneto as savior and villain. Also, I don't think this connection was intended by the text, but I can't help but see an analogue to Xavier here; he offered a home to mutants in need, then trussed up those same vulnerable teenagers as a private paramilitary group. Both these men have good intentions, but they will take advantage of the very people they're trying to save in order to reach that larger goal.

Also: “In less than a day, he had transformed one of the most important cities on Earth so that it conformed to his vision: a planet where mutants were the masters and humans were the servants. It was the only way for mutants to survive human prejudice.” A lot of people will note that Magneto doesn't want to kill all humans, and that's generally true, but the fact is he does frequently still want mutants to be the dominant species. In his early 2D Silver Age days, this was due to just straight-up thinking mutants superior, but in current times (again, this book was really ahead of its time in terms of Magneto) it's more like what he says here, it's to keep mutants safe. Because humans can't hurt them if THEY'RE the ones who are the underdogs instead. As a note, this is the mentality that I write Anne Marie Cortez as having. She looks at history, looks at the horrible things humans have done to each other, at the horrible things done to mutants now, and is like, humankind obviously cannot be trusted to be in charge. She believes that a mutant-dominated society will be better for mutants AND humans. And she doesn't think mutants will be as bad as humans either, because she believes God created mutants not just to be the physical improvement upon the flawed humanity, but a spiritual one as well. She believes that while some mutants are doing “bad things” now due to this imperfect world, they WILL be better than humans are, they CAN be better, once everything is put right (that is, mutants put on top with Magneto leading them) She, uh, she has religious delusions (with Magneto as the modern Christ in this paradigm, obviously >.< Anne Marie no!)

“From the observation platform at the top of the Empire State Building, Magneto looked down upon his Mutant Empire and his heart swelled with triumph, happiness, and pride. The sun forced his slate-grey eyes into a squint, the wind whipped his silver-white hair across his forehead, and Magneto smiled. It was a beginning.” AWWW I ALMOST WANT THE SERIES TO END HERE! Instead, we go to Wolverine and the Beast, whose exchange is irrelevant to the topic of this post (Magneto) and then to Amelia Voght of the Acolytes. Amelia Voght was a past lover of Charles Xavier, but split up with him when he formed the X-Men. She wanted to live a quiet life, and felt that Xavier's means would attract human attention to mutants. Years later, when she had, despite her attempts at a quiet life on her own, lost everything (including her family) to humans, she joined Fabian Cortez among his second-gen Acolytes recruits. Though Fabian is currently dead at the time of this novel, Amelia, like the other Acolytes, now follows Magneto in his stead (and much more happily) Unlike most of the Acolytes, Amelia receives far more complex characterization, and she's not the bloodthirsty sadistic bigot-for-fun that most of them are. She's actually a lot more like Magneto, which might explain why she follows him, despite having her doubts that his way is any more hopeful than that of Xavier. Anyway, now that you know who she is, here's what's going on. She's pretty pleased too, like Magneto. She's also surprised, not that he succeeded but that humans are still in the city. For those who weren't with me for the first two books, Magneto did NOT kick humans out. He said they could leave if they wanted, and stay so long as they accepted his new rules. A lot did leave, but some did stay (I imagine a lot COULDN'T leave, it takes money to be able to move and set up somewhere else ASAP, so there is definitely a class privilege thing going here, which overlaps with race and sexuality/gender. I don't think Magneto intended that, but the reality is that it's the people who are already the most oppressed that don't actually have a choice in whether they go or stay) Amelia is surprised by this, she thought that the island of Manhattan would be devoid of humans once Magneto took over, but reflects that, as I already noted earlier, “But Magneto's intention had always been for mutants to rule humanity, not destroy it. Voght had privately doubted it was possible. On this day, she changed her mind.” Anyway, Voght thinks about how the US government is still on the fence about what they're going to do, but Voght figures that save for a nuclear strike, Magneto and the Acolytes have it “all wrapped up”.

Amelia enters the reception area. There is one woman (the deputy mayor; the mayor himself “abandoned his city without a thought) and three men, one of whom is the police commissioner. Deputy Mayor Perkins is direct and no-nonsense. Amelia takes them all to meet with Mags, but before she does, warns the police commissioner that “As of this day, Magneto is the only law this island knows. He is not in favor of the death penalty, but that does not mean he does not see its uses.” Kinda like on Genosha, when he killed Fabian Cortez and all the good guys are like OMG YOU MURDERED HIM (come on guys, are you really THAT upset?) and Magneto was like “look, I run Genosha, consider this capital punishment, they have that in the USA you know” Magneto is of course “resplendent in his regal purple-and-crimson uniform. Without his helmet he wore during battle, his silver-white hair fell around his shoulders.” Ooooh, we got a long-hair Mags! He doesn't usually have long hair in 616, that's typically an AoA thing. Also RESPLENDENT I love it. Perkins gets right to it with “Why are we here?” and Magneto appreciates that she has little patience for small talk, but invites them to sit all the same, though he remains standing. He says they're here because they're the highest-ranking officials still remaining in the city and “You all need to know how I wish this city to be run, now that I am its sole authority.” So, a moment ago Amelia was surprised at how “amiable” Magneto is being to these people, how “benevolent” he looks, and I think I can say why---because he's won. He's the one giving orders. He can be nice because he's the top dog now. Admittedly, he was never nice to his underlings while running the Brotherhood, and not exactly friendly to the Acolytes either, but that's when, even though he had control of small group of people, he was still fighting against the larger world. Now that he has what he wants, he's willing to be nicer to those below him. Which isn't a compliment, btw; people who are only decent to others when everything is going their way are NOT good people. I think there's also the aspect of responsibility bringing out the best in him too. As cruel as he was to his followers, he was wonderful to the New Mutants when he was their teacher. Partly I think that's because they were children, but also because they were HIS children, tasked to HIM by Xavier. They were his responsibility in a way that the Brotherhood and Acolytes are not. His job wasn't to lead them, but to take care of them. Likewise, he's going to be taking care of this city, even if he'll also be taking some of its members for his own personal army. So I can see him being more benevolent here, even if only in the sense of a benevolent dictator (which he's very clear is the case, he says so himself he's the “sole authority” from now on) I guess I'm reading a lot into it, it's only two seconds of him being friendly and polite, but once my brain started going on it I couldn't stop. 

  Anyway, he restates that Haven/Manhattan is now “a class system, with all mutants as the nobility, or ruling class” and basically dictates Perkins as in charge of managing the remaining human population “answerable, of course, to me” and that she can appoint the others to any positions she sees fit to help her. He wants no more drugs, no more violent crime, no more corruption, that he wants all of the problems Manhattan had before his rule to be cleaned up. Perkins argues that corruption is inevitable in any system (I would say ESPECIALLY in this system, if the Acolytes are apparently gonna be “nobility”) Magneto counters that the corrupt are cowardly, thus they have already fled Haven, so logic dictates that there's no more corruption and he won't tolerate any. ...Magneto, your logic is not our Earth logic. Alas, this is pretty typical Magneto, he doesn't always, erm, make sense. Th police commissioner, Ramos, says he's not going to be Magneto's lapdog, that he's only going to enforce ACTUAL laws and that the police are NOT going to become Magneto's personal army. Mags smiles, tells him that he already has a private army, that he doesn't need the police “and I most certainly don't need you.” He then raises one hand in a gesture of “amusement and dismissal” and says, “Amelia, would you mind?” Amelia, for those who forgot or are just joining us, is a teleporter. She sends Ramos outside the building. She then thinks about how she could have teleported him high in the air outside and let him fall to his death, how she is “not a hardened killer, but she knew the value of an example. Still, Magneto would have been specific if he'd wanted the man dead. Her lord rarely sanctioned homicide. Much to the other Acolytes disappointment. A few things: 1) For those wondering about the “her lord” bit, that's not unique to her, all the Acolytes consider him to be their Lord. The big difference between the Acolytes and the Brotherhood is that the Acolytes revere Magneto in a RELIGIOUS sense (which I've built on especially with Anne Marie, while giving Chrome and Delgado different motives, I wanted some diversity of motivation in my crew) They even have a Book of Magnus (which I am pretty sure Fabian wrote, not Magneto) I shit you not 2) “Much to the other Acolytes disappointment” As I've said again and again, the Acolytes members that came after the first team are largely terrible people who just wanna kill all the “flatscans” they can. I wonder if they miss the days when Fabian let them go after hospices and school buses? Yes, really. Fabian did not keep a leash on those guys, he ENCOURAGED them to be bloodthirsty anti-human fucks. You could interpret that as anti-human bigotry on his part, I interpret it on using their rage and sadism to keep them happy and make them easier for him to control 3) Amelia, the hell do you mean you're not a hardened killer? You “made an example” EXACTLY like that in the previous books! Granted, said example was done because humans were threatening/attacking her, so it wasn't in cold blood like it would be here, but still, this is something she has JUST RECENTLY DONE 

  Magneto continues to those remaining that the Acolytes will enforce the law on the mutant population, the human police on the human. He wants Haven to be an example to the rest of the world---no drugs, full employment, a fair wage, no crime, no homelessness, no hunger. Oh Magneto, you're making Anne Marie's dreams come true. Or trying, anyway, but what's that quote about the road to hell? This is interesting though, because we're getting a glimpse of something we didn't with Genosha (at least in what I've read)---how Magneto would run things (or at least, his ideals/goals) when he's in charge. Oh, and the reason he wants Haven to be an example? “So society knows what to expect when we begin our expansion.” So, here's my question to that...Magneto is happy to let humans leave if they don't like his rules...but if he plans to expand...what happens if (as is probably his goal) he takes over the world? Where do they go then?

Magneto's last word to this lot are that “Bigotry will not be tolerated. Bigots are to be deal with most---harshly.” Amelia, like most people in the comics, knows Magneto's personal history as a Holocaust survivor (it's been presented on trial before) so she knows where this is coming from. But she wonders what would happen if she pointed out how a lot of the Acolytes are “rabid bigots” themselves, and she doubts he'll have them dealt with as harshly “but a woman could dream” (Amelia doesn't like Carmella or the Kleinstock brothers, the specific bigots she was thinking of) Now, I realize the kneejerk response here is to point out that hating the people who oppress you is not the same as bigotry, but trust me guys, she's RIGHT in this case. She is really, really right, like I cannot stress to you what a bunch of genocidal eugenicist assholes these people are. As in, they wanted to kill CHILDREN for being human. Carmella even wanted to kill a MUTANT child because he had Down Syndrome! Unlike real-life minorities, mutants not only have the power to be “reverse bigots” they actually even have a leg to stand on to “justify it” it in terms of “genetic superiority” and believe me, THE SECOND-GEN ACOLYTES USE THAT LEG. A LOT. ...also frankly, I don't think much of Amelia for being one of the “good Acolytes” because that means she's still fucking hanging out with these assholes even though she KNOWS better. You don't get points with me for being more moral than your teammates if that “morality” only amounts to “not joining in the worse stuff they do” rather than any actual opposition and/or leaving the team. And the same to Magneto for employing them, even if he tries to keep a tighter leash than Fabian did. So, the prologue ends there. The first chapter follows, and it doesn't feature Magneto at all, but it has some bits that are very, very relevant to current issues (sadly) so I thought I'd include it too since said bits are brief. CHAPTER ONE The X-Men are meeting with government liaisons Val Cooper (pro-mutant, ally, knows Xavier is their leader) and Henry Gyrich (anti-mutant, doesn't know Xavier secretly leads the X-Men but is the first villain I've seen with the sense to suspect it) discussing what to do about the Haven situation. We are told, as in last chapter, that mutants are pouring into Manhattan/Haven. We learn that the army is trying to keep them out, and that any mutants who enter are considered terrorists. So, we've got an oppressed population, many of which are likely refugees with no place better to go, coming to a place that has opened its doors to them...but the government has decided they're terrorists and is trying to keep them out. That sounds a little familiar. I understand the logic, that any mutant in Haven could potentially join Magneto's army, but “potentially” and “actually” are different things. After all, any refugee could “potentially” be a terrorist too, right?   Anyway, blah blah blah, Gyrich is a bad guy, then he tells Gambit “You're in America, speak English” and COME ON I doubt I need to spell out the significance of that. And given that it's coming from Gyrich, there's no way it's not MEANT to be significant.

This was written in 1997, you guys.

Okay, so chapter ends, basically the X-Men have seven hours to go into Manhattan and fix this or else Gyrich is going to have the island nuked and the press will claim that it wasn't the President that did it but the result of Magneto's own terrorist plot backfiring on him with catastrophic results. Because Gyrich is a bastard despite having gotten some neat character insight in the previous books . The X-Men are fucking horrified and Rogue even says “Maybe Magneto has the right idea” but since it's now six hours and forty nine minutes everyone decides they'd better bet going instead of chewing him out, and the chapter ends there. I've got to hand it to Golden, he's doing a really good job with this. Not just with Magneto characterization, but this whole set-up in general. There's a lot wrong with what Magneto is doing, and yet the good aspects are such that it's hard not to just forget the bad and root for him, at least for me. Especially since the human government is, well, Gyrich. But also good folks like Val Cooper. And as linked, we get some depth even to Gyrich. In short, Golden is really, really good at making a multi-sided conflict with multi-sided characters and challenging the reader on who to root for. At least that's my opinion. Stay tuned, folks! ALSO ONE MORE THING! I have a big question---where is Exodus? We know he's here, the first book began with him and Magneto (and Magneto thinking about him as a big purple butterfly, which I loved) But he really hasn't been seen since then, and with no explanation given as to why. This is actually pretty common, Exodus just not being in the picture for whatever reason, because he's so stupid OP that when combined with Magneto, it's pretty much game over for anyone in their way. So writers are always having to find a way to either separate them or put on of them out of commission (it's usually a coma) But here, there's no REASON thus far given for Exy's absence, he's just...not there. Even though he was earlier.  So I'm thinking/hoping that maybe in this book we get a good in-universe reason for that, rather than him just poofing because Golden realized that he'd just fucking wipe everybody out in the first book if he was around.

[justasmallbloginabigklainefandom]

The Great ATOG Reread; Grey part 3

Well shit, the liveblogging is back. Why? Because the next arc is brutal and I will probably have a lot to say.

Oh by the way, I revised my plan for their problems (for instance, I decided to stop using those hashtags), so:

Blaine

Sidekick and everything involved, aka why not me? Why does my fandom fuck up for me?

Longing for something ‘normal’ and kinda regretting some of his choices.

Being afraid of himself and of what he’s capable.

Kurt:

Losing grip of his powers.

Afraid Blaine won’t love him anymore because he doesn’t long for ‘normal’

Chapter 7

Time for probably one of the biggest arcs ever. Even later, they still talk about ‘the bank’ (the Ghost vs. Karofsky) and ‘the bridge’ (the Illiad).

A baby gets kidnapped and they want the Ghost to meet them.

He can imagine if it was the other way around, and he knows - he knows even as it sucks under his stomach like a tide going out, what the hell do they want with him . . . ? He knows that Phalanx has the harder task here. He knows that he has to be the braver one, because he has to let him go. He doesn't know how he could watch him walk off into this alone. He kisses his hand, and watches his eyes, and his entire face twists with it all before he hangs his head, eyes closing, and nods his defeat. The Ghost lets go of his hands to run his gloved fingers through his hair, to hug him around the shoulders and whisper to his forehead, "Very brave soldier."

How can people still pit them against each other? They mean so much to each other.

As can Kurt-in-private, ignoring closed doors in the apartment and plucking safety pins from his sewing jar without even opening it. Blaine casually makes a shield-shelf for resting hot baking trays on when moving things around in the oven and Kurt doesn't even open the cupboard door when he knows where the exact jar he needs is; their powers are just there, to them, like breath, and yet how the world wants to make them work for every gasp they're allowed. It can't be fair to be so little allowed to simply be what's natural to you, can it?

Aside from all the heavy shit that’s about to go down, this is actually really interesting. When it comes to superpower, it’s all about saving people, fighting criminals, and coping, but it’s also about domestic shit. This is part of them. They cannot imagine living without it. That’s probably why they both fucking panicked the moment they lost their powers or when they thought they had lost them.

Back to action, it’s so fucking sick that this is all done by a fucking kid who got bored and just decided to almost kill thee people FOR FUN.

- and after a half-second's confusion the Ghost's heart goes, so suddenly, so small and tight with fear. It's not about him. That man in Greek armour, they don't want him. They want Phalanx.

This is kind of new, because before people have always hurt Phalanx in order to get to the Ghost (HE GOT SHOT), but oh how the tables have turned.

Which leads to Blaine regretting problem 1.

They don't even care about him. They asked for the Ghost. They didn't want the sidekick. And through the terror and the agony of waiting and the bitterness so black like something burned inside him he can't even find it funny that he's basically thinking, Why didn't someone kidnap an innocent baby to get a chance to murder me instead?

Be careful what you wish for, sweetie, because they’re coming to get you. And yeah, you’re about to almost die. You get the more in depth thing of his problem. It is caused by, to no one’s surprise, the team, aka Psyche. Then, it got refuted by his own fandom, and the Ghost’s. Is he starting to resent ‘Ghostlanx’ for this? Well, fuck.

Blaine basically lives in the fandom, he knows what they can do.

"There's no need for that kind of language." The voice of the kid comes from a little distance - another garage out there, presumably underground and hidden again. "There's no place for homophobia in our institution. We're very modern criminals." The Ghost swallows, and says through his throat too dry, "Equal-opportunity sociopaths."

This is so weird? He’s so against homophobia, so he has some sense and a kind of conscience, but he still decides it’s fun to almost kill FOUR people for fun. (I’ve come to the conclusion that Achilles is a victim too).

Something in Phalanx's guts has just stopped burning with all his unspent, unspendable rage and has gone so, so, so cold. Like deep ocean ice, like heavy, leaden mercury. Something so cold and so awful, as he doesn't understand, and then, slowly, as (oh god no, no, no) he wishes that he didn't understand.

Your knowledge of Greek Mythology started as a joke. You never chose your name and costume, so you never had a reason to be invested. But here you are. You understand. And oh how you wish you didn’t.

"I don't know! I just know that - god damn it." He drags his hands through his hair. "They say video games are a bad influence on people, Jesus. That baby could get killed because of a two thousand year old poem." Finn says, "What?" Phalanx looks up at him, and feels very, very alone. "I don't - suppose - you've read the Iliad . . . ?"

I have, actually, because of this story.

Chapter 8

  "Then quickly he reached his well-founded house       But he didn't find white-armed Andromache in the halls . . ."

And so it begins.

The guy currently guarding him, remote in one hand and gun in the other, says like he's genuinely curious, "Is it part of the gay thing, being good with babies?" "I think it's part of the being a mature and intelligent human being thing," the Ghost says, keeping Hector tucked close to himself, trying to ignore that lethal cuff around his pudgy arm with its one small flashing green light, letting him know that the electricity's still stored up and ready for them. "I suppose you wouldn't know anything about any of those things."

Look at that, the Ghost has some of Kurt’s snark.

He understands what's been done to him. He's less than a hero, less than a human, he's been reduced to less than a name, even; he is chattel. There's nothing he can do while they've got the baby's life to hold over him. They want to kill Phalanx. The Ghost they'll just sell, he means nothing to them but a price tag, and someone else -

You can actually parallel this to Schuester’s shit. They look past their humanity. Callum looks past the humanity of his four victims. To him, they’re characters in his play and New York is his stage.

Well, you picked the wrong stage.

Callum is probably the evidence of bullying gone wrong. Whereas I still think he should die, he’s a boy who’s too intelligent for the people in his class, and he probably got bullied because of his intelligence. 

Bullying in high school can fuck people up. Callum is an example, but so is the Ghost. Both of them are bitter. Both of them use large measures to cope. But whereas Callum lets his bitterness overtake him and wants to kill four people for FUN, the Ghost uses it to make sure no one has ever got to go through that.

He wants to beat him to death. If he survives that they'll shoot him.

This kid is planning on doing that or fun. Cause he’s an artist. Cause he’s ‘special’. He might’ve been once, but he no longer is anything important. I’m not like the Ghost or Phalanx. Sure, this kid is still human and shit, but he’s also nothing. I don’t have to care like the Ghost does.

Is this some kind of joke? Is this some kind of elaborate sick joke that's going to get them killed? Or is it - do they mean it? What if they think he means it? What if they're insane and they actually think he's an actual - an actual hoplite and all of this is just a way of getting to hi

Both. Callum thinks it’s all for FUN, but Parker actually thinks he’s Achilles.

But he's not the Ghost. That's been the problem all along. The Ghost knows himself, Kurt knows himself, and Blaine hasn't got a clue who he really is and if the only thing he can save the Ghost with is himself - how the hell does he know what he's worth, if he's capable of saving him, if he doesn't even know who he is?

Jesus Christ, Phalanx is on a rollercoaster of emotions, uh? First, it’s problem 1, now we’re at problem 3.

He’s not the Ghost. He’s capable of killing someone. He reminds himself that he’s almost killed someone once and wow, he admits to himself that he’s willing to kill. Now, he’s kind of high on emotions so he doesn’t care. He’s all like ‘fuck it I’m gonna kill a bitch’, but later, this will only make problem 3 bigger.

I guess the Ghost is also on a roll. The battle is about to start and Callum is still a psycho. He’s smart and he knows he ‘doesn’t have to do this’, which makes it more FUN for him. And because he knows that, he can undermine the Ghost’s attempts to help him.

He's cleared space around himself by flinging cars out of the way, Phalanx lands on clear road and the enormous man in bronze Greek armour, burning in the light of the rising sun, calls, "Hector of the shining -" Phalanx slams a shield into his head.

Seriously.

Phalanx is not fucking around.

Unfortunately, he is once again pushing himself to the limit. He’s very aware this is his first solo fight against a super, who’s also a monster. This Achilles is so strong, his shields can barely take it. 

This terrifies him, because they’re his shields - his everything.

He stares at the fight, and his cloak flaps and flies in the wind. "You wanted me to watch," he says, and he's so tired, so spent, so helpless, he feels like he's already fallen. "This is what you wanted, isn't it? You wanted me to stand and watch him get beaten to death." "Just trying to make things interesting!" "You are a sick self-absorbed little boy who has no clue what he's doing." he whispers in a rush, and hikes Hector higher in his arm, tries to catch some of his rattling, unwieldy cloak around him to shield him from the blast. His voice chokes him. "You wanted me to watch -"

You know, they meet a lot of villians in this story, but there are a couple or so that I want dead. No kidding. I am against violence and death penalties and that shit, but sometimes, this becomes the ultimate solution. Not many people in this fic ‘deserve’ that solution. 

Fuck, not even Schuester deserved that solution.

But Callum does.

Again, I’m not like them. 

And shit son, Phalanx is going to die. AGAIN. The how maniest time is this. Why does Phalanx always find himself in these situations. The press is here. The cops are here. But Phalanx is going to die. His shields aren’t working, he has nothing less.

As a reader, you know he won’t die.

But then again, Phalanx doesn’t know that and the fear is real.

The Ghost lowers his head, blinks and blinks to try to clear his eyes of the tears, looks down at the walkway they're standing on, the curve of the metal under his boots, the ridge where the huge tubes of metal are fixed together, held by - His breathing is still hurting him, but it's beginning to slow. . . . held by bolts so enormous that their heads are as thick as a baby's arm. There's no time to think, no time to question, no time to second-guess anything; he's invisible and dropping backwards, ghosting through the walkway, holding Hector's arm out as the baby yelps in shock, only one chance to get this right -

The Ghost isn’t a physical fighter like Phalanx. The Ghost thinks things through.

And for the first time ever, the Ghost killed someone. And I am very satisfied with the fact that he did.

Twenty seconds, Phalanx had thought; the Ghost drops him in ten. 

It’s over.

Oh God.

You just want to cry from relief, cause it is finally over. Hector is back to his parents (in a, uh, non-conventional way), Phalanx’s face is open and bruised, but he lives, Mike’s already waiting for him, Finn survived the bullet... it’s over.

But it’s not.

While Mike cleans up Blaine's bruises and cuts Kurt stands in the shower and cries, not because he just watched Blaine almost die because of him, not because he never meant for that boy to get electrocuted and fall, not because a baby could have died in his arms, not because that woman screamed at him that it was all his fault; he cries because when he reached for the shower gel his hand went right through it. He holds his hand in the other, fingers gripping it hard while it pretends innocence, pretends that solidity is nothing unusual to it, and he cries, and tells himself that he's just too tired, he's just too tired. There's Blaine to worry about. There's Blaine. He has to think about Blaine. Put your head up and let the water wash it all away. This time his fingers do close on the bottle, even if they are still shaking.

[johnbroutledge]

blog tag.

tagged by @lukepouterson thank you for saving me from the ridiculously long shift monotony!

1. Why did you choose your url? – Because Kelly Severide is one of my favorite male characters of all time, though we’re switching to an obx url as soon as we get a release date for s2. Buuuut only temporarily!

2. Any side blogs? – @thebuddielibrary is mine.

3. How long have you been on Tumblr? – Almost 10 years in total? On this url? 10 months.

4. Do you have a queue tag? – queue can have my back any day.

5. Why did you start your blog in the first place? – I needed a fresh start and wanted to scream about 911.

6. Why did you choose your icon/pfp? – Because it’s Kelly and honestly who else would I pick? 😂

7. Why did you choose your header? – Because it’s simple and not fandom specific while still being interesting!

8. What’s your post with the most notes? – this JaTP gifset.

9. How many mutuals do you have? – uh....155 or so?

10. How many followers do you have? – 1073

11. How many people do you follow? – 236

12. Have you ever made a shitpost? – with the negative connotation? not on this blog and not in AGES, i don’t want to be involved in any kind of tumblr kerfluffle at all. like in a this is not serious/I’m full of shit way? uh all the time. Have you seen my liveblogs? 😂😂😂

13. How often do you use Tumblr each day? – An embarrassing amount <<—— keeping this answer cause mood.

14. Did you have a fight/argument with another blog once? – in past fandoms a long time ago. I cannot express enough how much adult/current me does not want to be involved in any drama or negativity and I work really hard to keep my blog a positive space. blocking people and moving on is key.

15. How do you feel about “you need to reblog this” posts? raising awareness is something that we all really need to do and a lot of time these kinda posts teach me things, but I’m also not one to be pressured into anything. If I want to post/reblog something I’m gonna do it without someone having to tell me I need to, and if I don’t, I won’t. <<—-literally this. like there are certain things I will never scroll past, like mental health helplines and stuff but a lot of the “do it now or else” things give me massive anxiety or feel really overwhelming and I don’t like that feeling.

16. Do you like tag games? – Yes!

17. Do you like ask games? – Yes!

18. Which of your mutuals do you think is Tumblr famous? – definitely got a few that if they aren’t they should be. and some that I know are pretty popular. I just don’t really like tumblr hierarchy? like it makes smaller blogs feel bad/like they can’t approach people and I never want anyone following me to feel like they can’t come talk to me or any of my friends?

19. Do you have a crush on a mutual? – Oh 100% for sure. 😂😂😂

Tagging: @justanoffalygirl @lezlieshay @nymika-arts @herodiaz @officer-adamruzek @sylviesunshine @gilbxrt-blythe @doctornineandthreequarters @evaneddie & @paramedic-tk

(anyone not up for it feel free to ignore!)